Free books are both a major perk and a major inequity of being a senior professor. Academic publishers send loads of free books to me and my senior colleagues in the hopes that we assign them in class, mention them on the blog, etc. This is a tragic inequality of the academic system, since as a full professor I should, in theory, be able to buy these books Meanwhile, debt-ridden graduate students have to pay for these things.
Yesterday, however, was a real treat, because I got several books in the mail that were written by my friends (at least that's what my Facebook page tells me):
- Daniel Nexon's The Struggle for Power in Early Modern Europe: Religious Conflict, Dynastic Empires, and International Change. A book about the ways in which transnational religious movements threatened the old political order of continental Europe. Gee, it's too bad this kind of discussion doesn't resonate in today's world politics.
- Sadanand Dhume, My Friend the Fanatic: Travels with a Radical Islamist. Why is radical Islam such a growth industry in Indonesia? Dhume travels across that country with an Islamist who worships Osama bin Laden to examine its appeal.
- Joshua Gans, Parentonomics: An Economist Dad Looks at Parenting. Josh and I started in grad school at the same time, so I'm already freaked out by the concept that he's a parent. That he's written a Steve Leavitt-inspired book on the topic is even freakier. Of course, I have no choice but to read it.
- Daniel W. Drezner, ed., Avoiding Trivia: The Role of Strategic Planning in American Foreign Policy. Sure, you might call this shameless self-promotion, but guess what? I can honestly say that I'm the least important person involved in this book. The other contributors -- including Richard Haass, David Gordon, Jeff Legro, Bruce Jentleson, Stephen D. Krasner, Amy Zegart, and FP's own Peter Feaver and Will Inboden -- are the ones who provide the real meat of the book. I just set the table and poured the wine on this project.
Enjoy!
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